Top Items:
Punchbowl News:
3/23/26☀️ AM: … The House and Senate are in session this week. The House returns Tuesday. The Senate, which has been in all weekend, is scheduled to confirm Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) as Department of Homeland Security secretary tonight.
Discussion:
New Republic, Joe.My.God., HuffPost, Raw Story and Mediaite
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Washington Post:
Trump threats, U.S. troop build-up raise specter of battle for Hormuz — Israelis said securing the strait for energy shipments could become the war's main goal now that regime change and ending Iran's ability to obtain a nuclear weapon seem out of reach. — TEL AVIV — A surge …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, The Week, Mediaite, News Items, Fortune, Fox News, Truthout, Straight Arrow News, Washington Times, Bloomberg and Associated Press
William Kristol / The Bulwark:
Better to TACO Than Not to TACO — ICE agents are heading to airports today, with President Trump deploying them in an apparent effort to reinforce TSA agents working without pay due to the government shutdown. Trump seems dead-set on keeping those agents working without pay rather …
Discussion:
Fortune, AOL and Wall Street Journal
Malcolm Ferguson / New Republic:
Iran Calls B.S. as Trump Says He's Pulling a 180 on War — After four weeks of useless threats, bombings, and death, President Trump is placing a five-day pause on his war on Iran after failing to attain the “unconditional surrender” that he claimed he would earlier this month.
Barak Ravid / Axios:
Trump pauses Iran energy strikes for 5 days while talks progress — President Trump told reporters his envoys had been negotiating with a senior Iranian official and claimed the parties were in agreement on many points. … - Iran denied any such talks had taken place and claimed Trump was just trying to calm the energy markets.
Discussion:
The Washington Free Beacon, Washington Examiner, GZERO, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Hill, Jerusalem Post, The Guardian, IJR, New Republic, Associated Press, Al Jazeera and Althouse
Julia Marshall / Straight Arrow News:
Trump postpones strikes on Iranian power plants following talks with Tehran — President Donald Trump announced he's postponing missile strikes on Iranian power plants for five days following “good and productive conversations” with Iran. He shared the news in a Truth Social post Monday …
Discussion:
NBC News, CBS News, ABC News, USA Today, RedState, Associated Press, Human Events, Breitbart, GB News, Metro.co.uk, HuffPost, Al Jazeera and Washington Examiner
NBC News:
Trump rejects off-ramp to fund DHS as airport delays worsen
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Politico, Breitbart, The Hill, NewsMax.com, New Republic, The Gateway Pundit, The US Sun, Raw Story, Newsweek and The Daily Wire
Associated Press:
Iran War Live Updates: Trump Says U.S. and Iran Held ‘Very Good’ Talks on Ending Conflict
Iran War Live Updates: Trump Says U.S. and Iran Held ‘Very Good’ Talks on Ending Conflict
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CBS News, BBC, NOTUS, Straight Arrow News, KSTP-TV, Zeteo, Fortune and Al Jazeera
Sam Meredith / CNBC:
Trump tells CNBC ‘we are very intent on making a deal’ with Iran
Trump tells CNBC ‘we are very intent on making a deal’ with Iran
Discussion:
Mediaite, CNN, CBS News, RedState, New York Sun, Associated Press, NewsMax.com, New York Magazine, gCaptain, UPI, Israpundit, Raw Story, The US Sun, Hackwhackers, Fox News, MPR News, News Talk 105.9, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, WTTG-TV, IJR and Politico
Sylvan Lane / The Hill:
Stocks rise after Trump announces pause on Iran energy strikes
Stocks rise after Trump announces pause on Iran energy strikes
Discussion:
Council on Foreign Relations
Michael Birnbaum / Washington Post:
Trump says U.S. is postponing some strikes as it negotiates end to war with Iran
Trump says U.S. is postponing some strikes as it negotiates end to war with Iran
Discussion:
HotAir, The Hill, MS NOW, The Times of Israel, Townhall, Roll Call, Fox News, Blaze Media, Joe.My.God., Mediaite and NewsMax.com
Amy B Wang / Washington Post:
ICE agents arrive at U.S. airports amid TSA staff shortages, funding fight — President Donald Trump has suggested the agents would be arresting undocumented immigrants at airports. — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have arrived at several airports Monday to assist …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Axios, New York Magazine, Blaze Media, MS NOW, Chicago Sun Times, Business Insider, FOX 35 Orlando, USA Today, NPR, Straight Arrow News, Townhall, NewsMax.com, Forbes, WTTG-TV, Raw Story, FOX 26 Houston, UPI, The Independent, Mediaite, WFMD AM, The Gateway Pundit, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Washington Times, Al Jazeera, Mother Jones, Scripps News, Newsweek, KSTP-TV, Los Angeles Times, KTHV, The Post Millennial, Fox News, RedState, NOTUS, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, Washington Examiner, TMZ.com, CNN, NBC News, New York Times, The Guardian and Politico
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Bloomberg:
Trump Says ICE Agents Shouldn't Wear Masks on Airport Duty — President Donald Trump said he did not want Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detailed to airports to wear masks as they assist with security screenings — even as he continued to support officers using face coverings during deportation operations.
Discussion:
Scripps News, The Hill, Fox News, Mercury News, The Post Millennial, CBS News, Advocate and New York Times
Associated Press:
ICE officers make their way to airports' TSA checkpoints after Trump order amid partial shutdown
ICE officers make their way to airports' TSA checkpoints after Trump order amid partial shutdown
Discussion:
Reuters, New York Times, The Hill, CBS News, Washington Examiner, The Daily Wire, KPNX, TMZ.com, The Daily Caller, The US Sun, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, WTTG-TV and KSTP-TV
Reuters:
Italy's Meloni seen narrowly losing justice referendum, exit polls say — Exit polls on Monday suggested Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had narrowly lost a referendum on her flagship reform of the judicial system, dealing a potential blow to the ruling coalition ahead of next year's general election.
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Donato Paolo Mancini / Bloomberg:
Meloni Concedes Defeat in Italian Referendum on the Judiciary
Meloni Concedes Defeat in Italian Referendum on the Judiciary
Discussion:
Politico, Al Jazeera, New York Times, NewsMax.com and Reuters
New York Times:
How Epstein Helped Solve a Billionaire's Problems With Women … In October 2017, a yoga instructor emailed Jeffrey Epstein with a delicate question: When might she receive the tens of thousands of dollars she'd been promised by the billionaire Leon Black? — She and Mr. Black …
Roque Planas / The Guardian:
California sheriff running for governor seizes over 650,000 ballots from 2025 election — Republican Chad Bianco investigating Prop 50 vote despite officials denying claims of ballots being cast unlawfully — A California sheriff who is running as a Republican for governor has seized …
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Rick Hasen / Election Law Blog:
“A California sheriff seized 650,000 ballots. Election experts say it's a big deal”
“A California sheriff seized 650,000 ballots. Election experts say it's a big deal”
Discussion:
NBC News, The Hill, The Preamble and Los Angeles Times
Don Moynihan / Can We Still Govern?:
Federal government employees are not ok — A new survey shows collapsing morale amidst ineffective leadership — Imagine you inherited a large, complex business. You don't have time to run it yourself, but you recognize its importance. So you hire a management team.
Philip Kennicott / Washington Post:
Trump is the biggest threat to D.C.'s architectural splendor since War of 1812 — The president's garish and piecemeal changes to the capital city's urban design are poised to destroy symbolism upheld for centuries. — A loosely circular driveway sweeps through the White House grounds …
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Noah Berlatsky / Public Notice:
The SAVE America Act could backfire bigly on MAGA — Public Notice is supported by paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️ — 💬 Subscribe to PN 💬 — This weekend, the Republicans thrashed about in the Senate like rotting, mildly electrocuted trout as they attempted …
Discussion:
RedState, NewsMax.com, Washington Examiner, The Hill and National Politics
ProPublica:
Trump Has Detained the Parents of More Than 11,000 U.S. Citizen Kids — The baby needed somewhere to go. So in the frantic hours before officers took her parents away to immigration detention, her mom turned to their pastor and his wife. As squad cars waited outside the family's Lakeland …
Claire Carter / Washington Examiner:
Control tower at Newark airport outside NYC evacuated over burning smell — A burning smell prompted the control tower at Newark airport outside of New York City to be evacuated, and a ground stop was ordered, the Federal Aviation Administration said. — Air traffic was paused around 7:30 …
Discussion:
CNN, The Hill, The Atlantic, Breitbart, Forbes, TMZ.com, The US Sun, Fortune and abc7NY
Liz Goodwin / Washington Post:
Republicans privately fear this swing state Democrat — Behind closed doors, Republicans have tamped down their hopes of unseating Jon Ossoff, a 39-year-old powerhouse fundraiser, as he seeks another term. — Rep. Buddy Carter warned a crowd of Republicans in Roberta, Georgia …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Lawrence Hurley / NBC News:
Supreme Court rejects citizen journalist's case against Texas officials who arrested her for reporting — Officials in Laredo dropped the charges against Priscilla Villarreal, but she then filed a civil rights lawsuit, alleging they violated her free speech rights under the First Amendment.
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Hill, Fox News and NPR
Jan-Werner Müller / The Guardian:
Pete Hegseth is promoting a nihilist cult of death — The Trump administration is embracing violence for the sake of violence — It appears that members of Trump's cabinet get chosen not despite their endorsements of violence, but because of them. Pete Hegseth was primarily known as a dapper TV host willing to defend war crimes.
David Folkenflik / NPR:
Voice of America staffers sue, alleging Kari Lake put on propaganda — In the latest battle over the future of Voice of America, a fresh group of veteran Voice of America journalists are suing Trump administration official Kari Lake, alleging that she is promoting pro-Trump propaganda on air.
Discussion:
All Rise News, Townhall and Joe.My.God., more at Mediagazer »
Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:
March 22, 2026 — President Donald J. Trump's behavior is increasingly erratic as he lashes out at those he perceives to be enemies. On Thursday he defended his failure to inform allies and partners about his February 28 attack on Iran by telling a Japanese reporter he wanted the element of surprise.
Discussion:
South China Morning Post
Tessa Stuart / Rolling Stone:
Is This Uncharismatic Leader Exactly What the Democrats Need? — DNC Chair Ken Martin has a plan to return Democrats to power, but he needs to keep the party from tearing itself apart first — “There are politicians who have the ‘it factor,’ and are highly charismatic,” Ken Martin …
Jeneen Interlandi / New York Times:
Inside the Turmoil at Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s C.D.C. — Forty-three current and former C.D.C. employees on the changes they say are replacing science with ideology — and making Americans more vulnerable. — Almost as soon as he recaptured the White House, President-elect Trump announced …
Discussion:
Raw Story, Mississippi Free Press and Washington Post
Politico:
‘When will it end?’ The ‘elevator pitch’ oil executives and diplomats are making to the White House in Houston … If there's one message the industry wants to deliver to the administration, according to interviews with half a dozen energy industry executives and foreign diplomats planning …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, New York Times, NewsMax.com, Reuters and UPI
Washington Post:
MAHA's political power tested as surgeon general pick stalls — Casey Means faces pushback from some Republicans over her refusal to forcefully recommend vaccines. — The nascent Make America Healthy Again movement got one of its biggest wins last spring: Casey Means was selected to be the nation's top doctor.

